Posted on 12/10/2004 11:50:25 AM PST by tvn
As Notre Dame continued to search for a football coach yesterday, the former agent for the fired coach Tyrone Willingham applauded the criticism of the firing by the university's president, the Rev. Edward A. Malloy.
The former agent, Ray Anderson, who is now an executive with the Atlanta Falcons, said yesterday that among Notre Dame's administrators, Malloy and the athletic director Kevin White, who also opposed Willingham's firing, knew the coach the best.
Malloy, who will step down as president July 1, made his comments Wednesday at a sports forum in New York.
"In my 18 years, there have been only two days that I have been embarrassed to be president of Notre Dame, Tuesday and Wednesday of last week, because I felt we had not abided by our precedent," Malloy said, referring to Willingham's firing.
Anderson, who negotiated Willingham's deal at Notre Dame, said Malloy and White "were really disappointed" about the firing.
"It was really refreshing to see Father Malloy's comments," Anderson said. "For someone from the university to take a stance like that shows that they made a disgraceful mistake."
Seven Notre Dame administrators met Nov. 29 to determine Willingham's coaching status. He was fired after three seasons.
Malloy's assistant, Chandra Johnson, said Wednesday that she had shaved her head to protest the firing.
Anderson said he had been in touch with Willingham, who has emerged as a strong candidate to become the coach at Washington.
"I can't confirm that he's interviewed there, but by this point there has been some meaningful discussion," Anderson said.
Anderson also said that Willingham was in good spirits.
"The experience at Notre Dame was brought on by folks that didn't understand the whole picture," Anderson said.
Notre Dame was scheduled to meet with Tom Clements, the Bills' offensive coordinator, last night about its head-coaching position. Clements, a former all-American quarterback, led Notre Dame to the 1973 national championship. He has the support of the former Notre Dame coach Ara Parseghian.
Willingham sucked and so did his "big picture". The Cleveland Browns fired Butch Davis for the same reason.
You either win or your ass is out. Willingham did not win, it's that simple.
Well, that certainly accomplished a lot. Nothing like a meaningless, stupid gesture!
As the NBC exclusive contract has been in force for some 10 years, the procceds to be accounted for by ND should be in excess of $100 MM. It is certainly time for a full accounting by the school's authorities.
Apparently Anderson's idea of "the whole picture" involves a lot of preferential treatment for minorities, regardless of their abilities.
Notre Dame's refreshingly willing to do the unpopular thing in order to get results.
Why's that because you say so? I hate to point out the obvious but you have about as much influence on ND as a knat farting in Tulsa has on a breeze in India.
A knat is a very small fruit fly type of insect in the event that you were wondering.
Oh I agree. What I find surprising is so many candidates passing on the job. Meyer to Florida rather than ND? Ten years ago that would have been unthinkable. All these great coaches seem to be 'afraid' to take the job. With the right coach, I'm sure ND can be a powerhouse. Holtz was a great success jsut recently.
Agreed on all counts.
As an Irish Catholic who hates ND, these have been some of the happiest days of my life. It's great to see them screw up the situation so badly.
You can argue, that Willingham didn't win enough and that he never should have been given a 5-year deal, but the problem @ ND is that the BOT is interfering and running the place. They should let the AD and the school president makes these decisions. Until the BOT removes itself from the process, ND will will suffer b/c most coaches don't want to work in that kind of environment.
I hope ND doesn't figure it out.
I think it has to do with ND's present image. They rolled over and gave in to the Black Coaches Association when they hired Willingham in the first place. That makes them gutless in my opinion.
Who the hell wants to work for an organization they perceive as gutless?
Granted they took a first step when they fired the guy but they have a long way to go to redeem themselves in the eyes of the best coaches out there.
It's telling to me that in his first year there with basically none of the starting players being his recruits he did well. Then his recruits get into the game and ND becomes everyone's cake walk. My guess is that it will take ND about 4 years for them to undo the damage Willingham did with the right coach. With the wrong coach it will take a hell of a lot longer than that.
I think Tyrone is a great coach, it just didnt work out for him at ND. ANYONE that can win at Stanford has got to be a good coach...
Lol, you make a good point.
I see it the same way, I've never seen this much teeth-gnashing at a coach firing. No one cried bloody murder when Solich was fired from Nebraska, although maybe they should have, noting this years record over there.
My, what strong feelings we have. Just wondering what your opinion is of serial killers, mass murderers and abortionists? Or is there possibly a rejection letter from Notre Dame somewhere in our past?
Notre Dame, think of it what you may, strives for excellence. Not always successful, clearly, but the attention given this mistake (the hiring of Willingham) probably speaks to its uniqueness.
May I respectully ask why an Irish Catholic hates ND? To my knowledge, that's got to be a first. Thanks.
2005 SCHEDULE
Sept. 3 - at Pittsburgh
Sept. 10 - at Michigan
Sept. 17 - MICHIGAN STATE
Sept. 24 - at Washington
Oct. 1 - at Purdue
Oct. 15 - USC
Oct. 22 - BYU
Nov. 5 - TENNESSEE
Nov. 12 - NAVY
Nov. 19 - SYRACUSE
Nov. 26 - at Stanford
Next year's coach will start out 2-4. And it doesn't get any easier through 2007. Given ND's reluctance to stick with Willingham, the next Irish coach will be shown the door before the schedule's difficulty is eased. I think Bob Davie is right; as a coach you go where you can win so your stock remains high. Any coach going to ND now is likely to find himself with less market worth in 3-4 years than he has right now.
Coach Ty spent 7 years at Stanford and he won 8 more games then he lost. A 44-36 record. I dunno how great that is. I will agree that he seems to be a person of good charector and a good football coach.
But ND needs and its boosters demand a GREAT coach.
Actually, Meyer to Florida makes a helluva lot more sense for a hot young coach than ND. Ron Zook might not be the greatest gameday coach, but he could recruit with anybody in the country, and the cupboard is definitely brimming over with talent in Gainesville.
Notre Dame is not going to be the year-in year-out powerhouse it was under Holtz because of the academic restrictions on recruits, and the fact that prep bluechips aren't awed by the mystique of the Golden Dome anymore. They'd rather play for a USC or Miami or Oklahoma that can pretty much guarantee a BCS bowl every year or so. The Irish haven't appeared in a BSC bowl in 4 years, and they were blown out by OREGON STATE of all teams.
Also, the way they handled Ty Willingham's firing is going to send red flags up with any prospective coach. They should have had Urban Meyer signed, sealed, and delivered before dumping their coach. Instead, they came off looking both arrogant and amateurish.
They did NOT say that the money would be used EXCLUSIVELY for minority scholarships...the TV money goes support student financial aid.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.